Gweunydd Blaencleddau is a large wetland complex in a shallow south-west valley around the headwaters of the Eastern Cleddau river. It is a

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain, or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland, is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle ...

(''SSSI'') and a

Special Area of Conservation A special area of conservation (SAC) is defined in the European Union's Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC), also known as the ''Directive on the Conservation of Natural Habitats and of Wild Fauna and Flora''. They are to protect the 220 habitats and ap ...

(SAC) situated in

Pembrokeshire, South Wales Pembrokeshire ( ; ) is a county in the south-west of Wales. It is bordered by Carmarthenshire to the east, Ceredigion to the northeast, and otherwise by the sea. Haverfordwest is the largest town and administrative headquarters of Pembrokeshi ...

Site of Special Scientific Interest

Gweunydd Blaencleddau is situated at the head of the Eastern Cleddau river, south-west of

Crymych Crymych () is a village of around 800 inhabitants and a Community (Wales), community (population 1,739) in the northeast of Pembrokeshire, Wales. It is situated approximately above sea level at the eastern end of the Preseli Hills, Preseli Mount ...

and covers an area of of shallow south-west trending valley between 190 m and 275 m above sea-level. The site was designated an SSSI in 2000 for its biological qualities. It is a mixture of wet

heath A heath () is a shrubland habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and is characterised by open, low-growing woody vegetation. Moorland is generally related to high-ground heaths with—especially in Great Britain—a coole ...

and damp grassland and has significant populations of the

marsh fritillary The marsh fritillary (''Euphydryas aurinia'') is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. Commonly distributed in the Palearctic region, the marsh fritillary's common name derives from one of its several habitats, marshland. The prolonged larval st ...

(''Euphydryas aurinia'') and the southern damselfly (''Coenagrion mercuriale'').

Special Area of Conservation

A Special Area of Conservation has also been established around this north-eastern tributary of the Eastern Cleddau river. The site is designated for habitats including

calcium Calcium is a chemical element; it has symbol Ca and atomic number 20. As an alkaline earth metal, calcium is a reactive metal that forms a dark oxide-nitride layer when exposed to air. Its physical and chemical properties are most similar to it ...

-rich springwater-fed

fen A fen is a type of peat-accumulating wetland fed by mineral-rich ground or surface water. It is one of the main types of wetland along with marshes, swamps, and bogs. Bogs and fens, both peat-forming ecosystems, are also known as mires ...

s -

Alkaline In chemistry, an alkali (; from the Arabic word , ) is a basic salt of an alkali metal or an alkaline earth metal. An alkali can also be defined as a base that dissolves in water. A solution of a soluble base has a pH greater than 7.0. The ...

fens; the

southern damselfly ''Coenagrion mercuriale'', the southern damselfly, is a species of damselfly in the family Coenagrionidae. It is found in Algeria, Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Morocco, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, S ...

(''Coenagrion mercuriale''); marsh fritillary butterfly ''Euphydryas (Eurodryas, Hypodryas) aurinia''; purple moor-grass meadows -

molinia ''Molinia'', or moor grass, is a genus of two species of flowering plants in the grass family, native to damp moorland in Eurasia and northern Africa. They are both herbaceous perennial grasses. The genus is named after Juan Ignacio Molina, a 19 ...

meadows on calcareous, peaty or clayey-silt-laden soils (''Molinion caeruleae''); wet

land with cross-leaved heath ''Rhostiroedd gwlyb'' - Northern Atlantic wet heaths with ''Erica tetralix''; very wet

mire A peatland is a type of wetland whose soils consist of Soil organic matter, organic matter from decaying plants, forming layers of peat. Peatlands arise because of incomplete decomposition of organic matter, usually litter from vegetation, du ...

s often identified by an unstable 'quaking' surface - transition mires and quaking bogs; and blanket bogs.

References

{{reflist

External links

*SSSI & SAC links from

Natural Resources Wales Natural Resources Wales () is a Welsh Government sponsored body, which became operational from 1 April 2013, when it took over the management of the natural resources of Wales. It was formed from a merger of the Countryside Council for Wales, E ...

SAC entry

SAC map

SSSI citation

SSSI map

SSSI management plan

Site of Special Scientific Interest

Special Area of Conservation

See also

References

External links